GOLF.

Otago Witness, Issue 3610, 22 May 1923, Page 44

GOLF.

By

DIVOT.

The international match, Great Britain v. United States, will be begun at St. Andrews, on the old course, to-morrow, and will bo concluded next day. There was a difference of 13 strokes between the score of C. B. Wight and that of the player who had the next best card in tile first qualifying round of the St. Clair Golf Club’s championship competition, and there was a difference of 12 strokes in the second round. On the two rounds Wight was 27 strokes better than any other competitor, Iris brother coming next to him. It is unfortunate that, now that J. H. Drake is in Wellington, and that M. Macbeth is also away, there is no member of the St. (Hair Club who can extend Wight. The latter’s scores of 76 and 77 in the qualifying rounds were excellent, but if it is his intention to contest the Amateur Championship of New' Zealand he should secure regular practice with players as nearly as gular practice with players as nearly as possible of his own calibre. The dates of the next New Zealand championship meeting, which is to Ire held at Wanganui, have now been fixed as from September 21 to September 29 inclusive. Eighty entries, including those of the professionals. will be received for the Open Championship, for which 32 wid iMify,

playing off in 36-hole matches. This means that the Open Championship and the four qualifying rounds for the Amateur Championship will be played on September 21 and 22, and the match play' for the Amateur Championship will commence on September 24. It is to be regarded as matter for satisfaction that the English Amateur Championship last week was gained by one of the British competitors. There was a - trong contingent of American players in the competition team, and the members of the team which is visiting England in order to play Great Britain for the Walker Cup. and Francis Ouimet, of Boston, who has to his credit an open championship of the United States, survived until the semi-final round in which he was defeated, after what was plainly a keen' contest, by Roger 11. Wethered, the ultimate winner. Quality came unerringly to tho top in the English Amateur Championships. The new champion is one of four golfers who occupy the scratch mark in the national handicaps which were recently issued. The other three scratch men are the champions for the past three years—E. W. E. Hoklerness, W. I. Hunter and C. J. H. Tolley. Holderness, the holder of the championship, was beaten in either the third or fourth round —which .is not quite clear from the cabled reports—by Douglas Grant, w'hose national handicap is 2. Tolley w'as among the last eight who remained in the competition, and was then beaten by Ouimet. “Millie” Hunter, the remaining scratch player, is not in Great Britain at the present time, but, in the United States, and in some quarters a doubt has been expressed as to whether, under the somewhat rigid definition of a golf amateur, he still possesses his amateur status. The Royal and Ancient Championship Committee, replying to a firm of golf ball makers, says that the recent definition of amateur golfer is not intended to prevent makers from sending sample balls to leading amateurs for testing, but not more than two should be sent and every ball should be clearly marked “Sample.” J. C. Bidwell, provincial champion of Wellington, will be a competitor for the golf championship of Australia. Four holes have been done in one stroke in Wellington during the past, month —two at Ilutt, one at Miramar, and one at Ileretaunga. That at Heretaunga is to the credit of G. T. George, who put down his tec shot at the fourteenth hole, the length being 188 yards Referring to the game between J. 0. Bidwill and J. H. Drake in tho match which Aliramar won from Masterton on last Saturday week, “Nibliok” writes in tho Dominion : “Bid well was smacking a groat ball off the tees, and got remarkable distances with the southerly gale behind .him. At the tenth, he got a mighty drive, which carried fully 320 yards, and ran on another good 20 yards. Drake, however, wisely refrained from pressing in order to be up with his hard-hitting opponent. There was nothing wrong with his long game, and his second shots, approaches, and work on the greens was quite first-class. It was a hard tussle between two first-class players, and the issue w'as in doubt right to the final putt, when Drake won a most meritorious victory by the narrow margin of 1 up.” ST. CLAIR CHAMPIONSHIP. The first round of the matches for the annual championship was played on the St. Clair Links on Saturday under perfect weather conditions. The games resulted as follows: —C. B. Wight beat Dr Hunter, 8 up and 7 to play; W. G. Wight beat W. I). M’Carthy, 6up and 5 to play; W. Clayton beat D. D. M’Carthy, 7 up and 6 to play; Geo. Forbes beat A. Laing, 2 up' and 1 to play. The following are the results of the Junior Cup matches:—G. Lyttelton beat W. J. WilXiam3, 4 up and 3 to play; H. Hooper beat N. Smith, 6 up and 4 to play; B. C. llaggitt won from It. Bonnington by default; A. I. W. ’Wood, a bye. BALMACEWEN LINKS. The match between R. B. Lambert and J. S. Monro in the semi-final of the Otago Golf Club’s championship resulted in a keenly contested finish. Monro was well in the lead at one stage, being 4 up at the I2th, but gradually lost his lead, and started the 18th hole all square, where Lambert won the hole and the match 1 up. The match that was unplayed in the third round was played on Saturday between K. Ross and H. Do C. M’Arthur. The latter extended Ross very well, the match being carried to the 16th hole, where Ros 3 won 4 amd 2. The in the fourth round of the Balmaccwen Cup were mostly close, the results being as follow: J. K. 11. Inglis beat I. A. Fleming, 4 and 3. A. N. Haggitt beat F. Halsted, 4 and 2. J. R. Rutherford beat H. S. Jones, 6 and 4. G. H. Whitcomb© beat H. L. Cook at the 19th. M. Foley beat A. I. Hunter, 1 up.

J. Hutchison won from If. W. Slater by default. The St. Andrew's Cross competition was won by G. Callaway with a score of 1 down. The scores were poor, considering the ide-al weather conditions. KIRKWOOD’S FINE SCORE. LONDON, May 16. J. 11. Kirkwood made his first appearance in England for 1923 with rounds of 72 and 67. He heads the list among the 32 who qualified in the Yorkshire Evening news competition at Leeds. His 67 in a wintry gale, with occasional showers of rain and hail, was a remarkable effort, and breaks the record for the course. * Other leading scores are:—Havers and Wilson 143, Crappar and Williamson 144, Robson 145, Duncan 146, Hagen, Mitchell, and Braid 147, Beackle, Ockden, Renouf, Seymour, Boomer, and Ball 149, Vardon, Gadd, Leach, and Button 150, Sarazen 151 J. H. KIRKWOOD DEFEATED. LONDON, May 17. In the first round of match play in tha Yorkshire Evening News competition at Leeds H. C. Kinch beat J. H. Kirkwood, 3 up and 2 to play. BRITAIN DEFEATS AMERICA. LONDON, May 18. Britishers to-day won three out of four 36-hole foursomes at St. Andrews against the Americans for tho Walker Cup. R. H. Wethered and C. J. H. Tolley beat F. Ouimet and Jesse Sweetzer, 6 up and 5 to play. R. Harris ana C. V. L. Hog man lost to R. A. Gardner and R. Marston, 7 and 6. E. \V. E. Holderness and Lord Charles Hope beat V. Rotan and S. D. Herron, 1 up. J. Wilson and A. L. Murray beat R. Johnstone and Neville, 4 and 3. Holderness and Hope made a brilliant recovery. They were six holes down at the end of the first round, and were later 8 down, but they drew all square at the thirty-second.